Popular Post Robbo Posted March 2, 2015 Popular Post Share Posted March 2, 2015 Sup, so it's about time I put up a build thread for this thing and got some stuff done. Discussion here: //oldschool.co.nz/index.php?/topic/47324-robbos-1972-toyota-corona-coupe/ 1972 Toyota Corona 1700 Deluxe Coupe Was searching for an old school Toyota for a while but wanted something a little different to the usual k series so after this thing popped up for sale I nabbed it. Not too many around, I know of about 5 floating around in NZ. Sounds like it's belonged to a couple of old schoolers in the past so some might recognise it. Has a few cool bits, factory tinted windows, pillarless, fuel tanker filler under the number plate, hard wired inspection light in the engine bay, disc brakes up front etc. Failed a wof early last year for some rust and had been sitting in the guy's shed ever since. Pic above from just after I bought it (knocking sound coming from FL wheel on the way home, went to take the wheel off to check it out and the nuts weren't even finger tight!) Anyway the good and the bad: Good -Mostly complete (just missing a few interior bits) -Fairly straight body -Runs well when it starts -Has been resprayed not long ago (not a great job though) Bad -Some rust -Auto -Has some electrical gremlins -Weather strips/seals are mostly perished Failed its wof on rust in both sills and the bottom of a door, previous owner said he'd had his mate fix up the door but he'd forgotten to the do the sills (hmm?). Anywho there was also some paint bubbling in both of the roof gutters and around the radio aerial, decided to get it fixed all at once so took it to a cashie panel beater (cheers Mr Mk1 for the contact). Pics of the rust when it was taken back to bare metal, some fairly thick bog in places and the previous owners mates repair on the door was pretty shoddy (combination of new steel, nutech and bog). Panel beater cut it all out replaced with new steel and primered it up. Got it back home and tidied it up a bit and here's how she sits at the moment. So the plan is to sort out the electrical gremlins (either the battery is buggered or its not being charged, has an almost brand new alternator so ruling that out for now) and take it for a wof. Future plans are: Wheels - 14x7ish Mk2s/Longchamps/whatever comes up Fender mirrors - Current side mirrors are crappy Thai replicas Manual conversion - Need to source W40/pedal box Low - May just chop the fronts and throw some blocks in the rear Paint - Might have a go at painting the primered bits myself That's all for now folks, chur. 12 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robbo Posted May 27, 2015 Author Share Posted May 27, 2015 Been stuggling to find time for this thing! Anyway.. Chucked a new battery in it and that seems to have solved the electrical problems. Took it for WoF and it failed on a wrong size tyre (had the spare on) and leaking brake master cylinder. Got a second hand tire fitted (anyone know where I can get it white walled to match the rest?), went down to safe-r-brakes and they couldn't find a new master so had to resleeve it which was fairly spendy Anywho it's back on the road now! Also sorted out a manual conversion from an old geezer down in Timaru. W40 box (supposedly in good nick), pedal box from an RT104 (which comparing part numbers should be the same as a factory RT94 one), flywheel, clutch (buggered) and master/slave/lines (all buggered but gives me an idea of what I need). Keen to bring it out to a meet before I rip into the manual conversion since it will inevitably be off the road for quite a while 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post Robbo Posted June 1, 2015 Author Popular Post Share Posted June 1, 2015 Now we're talking.. 14x7 -2 Work Equip 03s Picked them up for a pretty reasonable sum, have had a fairly shabby respray at some point so whipped out the thinners and got rid of the overspray then had a go with some Autosol. First time I've polished wheels before but was fairly happy with how they came out with minimal effort. Did a quick test fit on the front, they sit about 5mm outside the gaurd so might need to massage them a little. Good news is they don't foul on anything going to full lock. Bad news is I can fit a bowling pin between the gaurd and the tire. Time to get low I think... 10 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robbo Posted July 4, 2015 Author Share Posted July 4, 2015 Fairly boring update, just fixed a variety of issues. Replaced the oil pressure sensor (cheers matteybean) so now the oil light isn't continuously on. Went to check the vacuum advance was working and found out the vacuum advance hose wasn't even hooked up to the carb, lol. It was super brittle and had just snapped so got a new length of hose from Butlers. Then noticed the PCV hose from the intake manifold was leaking at the head so back down to Butlers grabbed a couple of hose clamps and sorted that. Also the airbox had a couple of cracks in it so my flatmate took it work and welded them up. Starts and runs bloody good now. Rear window only ever went about halfway down and always rattled, pulled the interior apart to take a look at it and found the wheels which sit within the runners were in about 5 pieces. Luckily oldschool is full of knowledgeable people and matt spitfire told me he'd used some sliding door wheels from Bunnings as a replacement for the ones in his Celica. Anyway they are basically a perfect fit and super easy to install, cheers matt spitfire! Here's the ones you want, $14ish: SKU is 518657, just give that number to Bunnings if your local doesn't have them and they should be able to order them in. I also grabbed a couple of washers as the nuts are pretty small. Pretty easy to install: - Remove and disassemble the window regulator - Cut off the old stud - Punch the back of it out - Cut a groove in the top of the new sliding door stud to fit a flat head in - Fit and tighten it with a flat head on one end and a ratchet on the other Also bought a new clutch and am on the hunt for a new slave cylinder, BNT couldn't seem to find anything. Anyone bought a new slave for a W40? I assume it's the same as a W50 slave? Got bored and chucked the equips on the rear for a test fit. Sit pretty much flush with the guard so happy with that. The fronts stick out quite a bit though, probably too much for a guard massage. Don't really want to go to flares. Some 6.5s on the front would be ideal...Don't rate my chances of finding some in the same style though. Gonna pop into Autolign next week and get some 2 inch lowering blocks and then I'll have to sort out the fronts. Will try to avoid cutting them but I don't think I'll be able to get anything off the shelf so will probably have to take them out and give them a measure up. Fun stuff. 8 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robbo Posted September 25, 2015 Author Share Posted September 25, 2015 So a busy period at work, a holiday and this thing being damn difficult means I haven't done a lot on it in a while... In order of difficulty (top being an absolute keeeenntttt) here's what I have done though: - Removed a front spring - Sourced a clutch slave cylinder - 2inch blocks in the rear - Bought a siiick trolley jack Front spring was fun. Spent about 2 hours smashing the ball joint and separator with various hammers, eventually borrowed the neighbours sledge but it still wouldn't budge. Gave up for a week then borrowed a gear puller from a mates old man and had it apart in about 10 minutes. Classic. Sway bar bushes are absolutely shagged so pulled those off and will do them at the same time as the springs. As with everything on this car nobody has parts listed for it so hopefully they're not too obscure. Decided to get some new front springs rather than cutting the existing ones as the car seems to have a slight lean to the drivers side so they may have sagged a bit over the years. Also if the WoF man gets cranky I can just throw the old ones back in. Did a bit of research and apparently standard Isuzu Gemini springs are almost identical except 1.5" shorter so the plan is to order a set of them tomorrow and 'adjust' them by 0.5" to match the rear. Here's how the rear sits at the moment with the blocks in: Splashed out on the trolley jack and got a Wayco W1001 as recommended on an OS thread and it's the absolute business (Cheers OS gurus!). If anyone in Christchurch is looking for one I found George Stocks to be the best priced and they have them on the shelf. Fingers crossed the next update should contain photos of newly acquired low! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robbo Posted September 26, 2015 Author Share Posted September 26, 2015 So naturally nothing went to plan. Went to remove the drivers side shock and held the tapered part at the top of the shock and then used a spanner to remove the nylock nut but ended up shearing the tapered part off just before the nut reached the top of the thread Managed to wedge some vice grips up through the spring but couldn't get enough purchase to keep the shaft in place and get the nut off so ended up resorting to cutting through the thread below the nut. Doesn't look there's enough room to rethread them once all the bushes and washers are on there...time to shell out for new shocks? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robbo Posted September 27, 2015 Author Share Posted September 27, 2015 Success! Still needs new shocks, new sway bar bushes, shank nuts and a warrantable set of tires til it's all legit though. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robbo Posted October 11, 2015 Author Share Posted October 11, 2015 Ideally want to go about another 20mm lower (currently sitting around the 130mm mark) but that would require getting the leaves reset so will leave it as is for now. There's only about 20mm of travel to the bump stops too so I'll probably have to trim them down at some point. Wheel nuts ordered, shocks priced up and sway bar chassis bushes on their way from Australia. Fingers crossed the bushes fit as there wasn't anything listed in any of the catalogues (strange because some went back to RT40 coronas but missed the RT80/90 series ) so measured one up from the old bush. The sway bar link bushes are being a bit of pain, going to try Toyota tomorrow and failing that I'll drill out the hole on the lower arm to 10mm and get some sort of universal kit. The factory link bolt is 8mm which makes finding a sleeve and bushes pretty hard. Noticed something strange with the camber adjusting shims on the right hand side so I loosened up the bolts and checked the shims. Turns out the front right one had two extra shims adding about 5mm so took them out and set it to the same as the left hand side. Would of been doing funny things to the camber/castor so not sure why someone had done it. Will take it for a wheel alignment when I get it back on the road though and see if there's any issues. Sorted out a couple of things with the grille/head light bezels this afternoon. Previously couldn't remove the grille because some nitwit had put a screw in place of a bolt and it had seized in the thread. Drilled the head off, got the screw out with vise grips and retapped a new thread. Also made up a wee stud out of some conveniently handy M4 threaded rod I had lying around to secure the bezel (not an original one so has been modded to fit). Got a few other bits and pieces to look at while I wait on the bushes, really keen to get this thing back on the road though! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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